(a) It is a violation of this part for any person other than the landowner, lessee, or other person entitled to possession, or the manager, in the case of publicly owned land, or a person with the written permission of the landowner or manager, to knowingly uproot, dig, take, remove, damage, destroy, possess, or otherwise disturb for any purpose, any endangered species. This subsection (a) does not apply to any employee or contractor of the federal government or of the state or of any political subdivision of the state engaged in any type of planning, construction, or maintenance work upon any proposed or existing federal, state, county, or other public road or highway, or highway right-of-way, while performing such work in the course of employment or contract work with the federal, state, or local government.
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Terms Used In Tennessee Code 70-8-309

  • Commissioner: means the commissioner of environment and conservation and the commissioner's authorized representatives. See Tennessee Code 70-8-303
  • Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
  • Endangered species: means any species or subspecies of plant whose continued existence as a viable component of the state's flora is determined by the commissioner to be in jeopardy, including, but not limited to, all species of plants determined to be an "endangered species" pursuant to the Endangered Species Act. See Tennessee Code 70-8-303
  • Highway: includes public bridges and may be held equivalent to the words "county way" "county road" or "state road". See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
  • Nursery farmer: means any person engaged in the practice of growing or propagating nursery stock for sale. See Tennessee Code 70-8-303
  • Person: means an individual, corporation, partnership, trust, association, or any other private entity, or any officer, agent, department or instrumentality of the federal government, any state or political subdivision of the state, or any foreign government. See Tennessee Code 70-8-303
  • Possession: means both actual and constructive possession, and any control of the object or objects referred to. See Tennessee Code 70-1-101
  • Public road: means the traveled portion of, and the shoulders on each side of, any road or highway maintained for public travel by a county, city, city and county, the state, or the United States government, and includes all bridges, culverts, overpasses, fills, and other structures within the limits of the right-of-way of any such road or highway. See Tennessee Code 70-1-101
  • Sell: includes the offering or possessing for sale, bartering, exchanging or trading. See Tennessee Code 70-1-101
  • State: when applied to the different parts of the United States, includes the District of Columbia and the several territories of the United States. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
  • written: includes printing, typewriting, engraving, lithography, and any other mode of representing words and letters. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
  • Year: means a calendar year, unless otherwise expressed. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
(b) It is a violation of this part for any nursery farmer to export from this state or to sell any endangered species without first obtaining a license from the commissioner as provided in § 70-8-304(3). The license shall allow any nursery farmer to purchase a maximum of ten (10) plants of any endangered species in each calendar year without being in violation of this part.
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